Ingatestone United Reformed
Church, in association with the local Historical Society, hosted a history
event linked with its 200th anniversary on 14 & 15 July. On display were a number of old village
photographs and other memorabilia. The
event was the official launch of an e-book written by Chris Harvey to
commemorate the anniversary. A large
number of people attended.

The East Anglian Railway
Museum, at Chappel and Wakes Colne, can claim two links with the Olympic
Games. One of their steam engines,
currently on loan to the Churnet Valley Railway, was built at the Temple Field
works site in Stratford in 1924. Temple
Fields made way for the Olympic Park beside the Liverpool Street London railway
line. The other link is that Blur, the
Indie Band, performed their first gig at the Museum back in 1989. Blur, now
re-formed, was one of the artists involved in the Closing Ceremony of the Games
on 12 August inasmuch that their song ‘Parklife’ was included as a quirky cover
version. (They performed 'live' at the Mayor of London's gig at Hyde Park that evening.)

The museum itself tells the
story of the railways in the local area.
Its collection includes the two Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) which were
used on the Stour Valley Line until the 1980s.
signal boxes rescued from local lines are also preserved. The Museum is the current resting place for a
three-car electric train (Class 306 017) which was in service from London
Liverpool Street to Shenfield and Chelmsford from 1949 to 1980 (see http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=class+306). There is a relatively new exhibition
space. Worth a visit. See http://www.earm.co.uk/

Local news connection with the Olympic Games

The Red Arrows flew over the
Olympic Park about 45 minutes before the opening ceremony on 27 July. We heard the roar of them over the houses in
Blackmore on their return journey. They
had long gone by the time we had raced into the garden.

Earlier that day a family went to Blackmore Church to ring the church bells, and participate in Martin Creed's project 'Work No. 1197'. Across that country at 8.12am that day everyone was encouraged to ring bells as loud and fast as possible for three minutes. Welcome to Britain everyone!

The London 2012 Olympics was a triumph
both in its organisation and the success of the athletes. It was a hugely memorable Festival for those
who were lucky enough to get tickets and enjoy the site afterwards. Local people were among the 70000 Games Makers
who made the whole event so pleasurable for spectators.

The county’s archive resource is throwing
open its doors for a special event on Saturday 8 September to mark Heritage
Weekend. Their keynote speaker is family
history expert Nick Barratt, radio and ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ fame. Any information I glean will be posted on the
website. For more, and to see Nick
Barratt in aeries of videos, go to http://www.familyhistoryshow.net/essex-record-office-discovery-day

Writtle
Calling

To celebrate the 90th anniversary
of 2MT, Britain’s first radio station, enthusiasts are mounting recreation series of broadcasts starting 11
September. For more go to http://www.writtlecalling.co.uk/pr3.pdf

A ceremony to unveil a War
Memorial at the new Ongar Medical Centre was held on 10 May 2012. It contains the names of those who died from
the local area, predominantly during the First World War. It replaces the War Memorial which existed in
the former building, the War Memorial Hospital, which occupied this site. A separate post will feature this event.

Friday, 24 August 2012

Up and down the country, the
Church of England still holds services using the Book of Common Prayer –
sometimes referred to as ‘1662 service’.
In some quarters its words are regarded as central to the liturgy. But it was an Act of Parliament which
ordained its use, effective from St Bartholomew’s Day (24 August) 1662.

Samuel Pepys, a Londoner,
wrote in his diary:

“August 17th.
(Lord’s Day). Up very early, this being
the last Sunday that the Presbyterians are to preach, unless they read the
Common Prayer and renounce the Covenant, and so I had mind to hear Dr Bates’s
farewell sermon, and walked to St Dunstan’s, where, it not being seven o’clock
yet, the doors were not open; and so I went and walked an hour in the
Temple-garden … . At eight o’clock I went, and crowded in at the back door
among others, the church being half-full almost before any doors were open
publicly; which is the first time that I have done so these many years since I
used to go with my father and mother; and so got into the gallery, beside the
pulpit, and heard very well.”

This must have been the last
Sunday when John Willis preached in Ingatestone. Following ejection “he did not move any great
distance, but established a conventicle at Brentwood, in conjunction with
Thomas Gibson, who had been ejected from Little Baddow. There they had a licence for a ‘Presbyterian
meeting house’ in 1672, and Rector Willis probably remained there until his
death in 1679” (EE Wilde, Ingatestone & The Essex Great Road (1913) p176).
This was the formation of what became the Congregational Church (more recently
Brentwood United Reformed Church).

D W Coller, wrote about the
events of 1662 in his book ‘The People’s History of Essex’ (1861)

“Then came the Act of
Uniformity, which banished all strange doctrine from the pulpit and restored
the liturgy in its completeness; and 2,000 of the clergy, many of them in
Essex, with a sincerity which astonished the kingdom, abandoned their snug
vicarages and comfortable rectory-houses, and went forth, voluntarily embracing
a life of hardship and poverty rather than accept the articles of subscription
which were tendered to them as the condition of retaining their cures. The following is a list of the ejected clergy
in this county: it shows at once the extent of the suffering, and the parishes
which had been under pastors whose teaching had been most hostile to the system
of the Church:

Abbey Hatch: Mr Knightsly

Alphamstone: Mr Samuel
Brinsley, St John’s Col. Camb

Arkesden: Richard Pepps. M.A.,
Eman. Col. Camb

Great Baddow: Mr Christopher
Wragge

Little Baddow: Thomas Gilson,
M.A., Eman. Col. Camb

Barking: Benjamin Way M.A.,
Oriel Col. Oxon

Barnston: John Beadle, M.A.

Belchamp (Walter): Mr Dearsley

Belchamp (Otten): Mr Thomas

Bentley: Mr Thomas Beard

Boreham: Mr John Oates

Boxted: Mr Lax, also Mr Carr

Braintree: Mr John Argor,
Camb. Univ

Steeple Bumpstead: Mr Edmund
Symmes

Birdbrook: Issac Grandorge,
M.A., St John’s Col. Camb

Great Burstead: Mr Samuel
Bridges

Chelmsford: Mr Mark Mott

Chickney: Mr Archer

Childerditch: Mr Harris

Chrishall (Little): Mr James
Willet

Clavering: Mr John Moore,
Peter-house, Camb

Coggeshall: Mr John Sams

Colchester, St Andrews: Owen
Stockton, M.A., Christ’s Col. Camb

Colchester, St Peter’s: Mr
Edward Warren

Colne Engaine: Mr John Clarke

Copford: Mr Robert Thompson

Cranham: Mr John Yardley

Danbury: Mr John Man

Dedham: Matt Newcomen, M.A.,
St John’s Col. Camb

High Easter: Mr Martin
Holbitch

Eastwood: Mr Phillogers
Sacheverel, Ox Univ

Felsted: Mr Nathaniel Ranew, Eman.
Col. Camb

Feering: Mr Constable

Finchingfield: Mr Hugh Glover,
Eman. Col. Camb

Fingringhoe: Mr Gregg

Fordham: John Bulkley, M.A.

Gestingthorp: Mr Davis

Hawkwell: Mr John Church

Halstead: Mr Wlliam Sparrow,
Camb. Univ

Hamstead (West): Mr Green

Hanningfield S: Mr Cardinal

Hatfield Broad Oak: John
Warren M.A., Ox. Univ

Hempstead: Mr Thomas Ellis

Henham: Mr Samuel Ely

Hedingham (Castle): Mr John
Smith

Henny (Little): Mr Samuel
Crossman

Hockley: Mr Farnworth

Hallingbury (Little): Mr
Waters

Hornchurch: Mr Wells

Ingatestone: John Willis, M.A.

Inworth: Mr Robert Dodd, Ox
Univ, also Mr Jenkins

Laver (Magdalen): Mr Harvey

Laver (High): Mr Samuel
Borfet, King’s Col. Camb

Laver (Little): Edward
Whiston, M.A., Trin. Col. Camb

Leighs (Little): Mr John
Benson

Leyton (Low): Phllip Anderton,
M.A., Eman. Col. Camb

Lindsell: Mr Clark

Maldon: Thomas Horrockes,
M.A., St John’s Col. Camb

Moreton: Edmund Calamay, M.A.,
Sydney Col. Camb

Nazing: Mr John Brown, Eman.
Col. Oxon

Nevendon: Mr Davis Fowles

Norton: Mr Hubbard

Notley: Mr Sparrowhawk

Oakley: Mr John Hubbard

Oakley (near Stansted): Mr
Lucas

Ockendon (South): Mr Barnaby

Ongar (Chipping): Mr John
Lorkin

Panfield: Mr George Purchas

Parndon (Great): Mr Bastwick

Pattiswick: Mr Ralph Hile

Pebmarsh: Me Blakeley

Pentlow: Mr Henry Esday

Prittlewell: Thomas Peck, M.A.

Radwinter: Mr George Moxon

Rayleigh: Abraham Caley, B.D.

Rettendon: William Clopton,
M.A., Eman. Col. Camb

Ridgewell: Daniel Ray, M.A.,
St John’s Col. Camb

Rivenhall: Mr George Lisle

Roothing: Mr John Wood

Roothing (White): Mr Sandford

Sandon: Mr Samuel Smith

Shalford: Mr Giles Firman,
Camb. Univ

Shelley: Mr Zackery Finch

Shenfield: Mr George Bound

Shoebury: Mr Watson

Southchurch: William Ruthband,
M.A., Ox. Univ

Springfield: John Reeve, M.A.

Stambourne: Mr Henry Havers,
Kath. Hall, Camb

Stanford Rivers: Mr Matthew
Ellistone

Stansted: Mr Robert Abbott

Stapleford (Abbots): Mr Lewis
Calandrine

Stapleford (Tawney): Mr Ward

Stebbing: Samuel Bantoft,
B.D., Jesus Col. Camb

Stisted: Mr Thomas Clark

Stock: Mr Martin Sympson

Stow Mary’s: Mr James Maulden

Tey (Much or Great): Mr Green

Tey (Marks): Mr Richard Rand

Terling: John Stalham, M.A.,
Ox. Univ

Thaxted: Mr James Parker

Thoyden Mount: Mr Francis
Chandler

Toppesfield: Mr John Overhead

Upminster: Mr Hawkes

Wakering: Mr Christopher Scott

Waltham (Little): John
Harrison, M.A.

Wanstead: Leonard Hoar, M.D.

Warley (Little): Mr Powel

West Ham: Mr Walton

Wethersfield: John Cole, M.A.,
Jesus Col. Camb.

White Colne: Mr John Bigley

Wickham Bishops: Mr Robert
Billio, Trin. Col. Camb

Witham: Mr Thomas Ludgutter

Weeley: Mr Dowel

Yeldham (Great): Mr Robert
Chadsly.

“It appears to have been
feared that these nonconformist exiles would in many instances carry their
congregations from the parish altars, and leave the churches desolate. An act was therefore passed prohibiting
separate congregations, and forbidding any dissenting teacher to come within
five miles of any place at which he had preached. Dissent prevailed in the county,
nevertheless, and to a great extent, - so hard is it to coerce the conscience
by human law; and though these restrictions, with occasional modifications,
were continued for a century afterwards, conventicles, as they were called,
were set up in secure and secret places, precautions being taken to elude the watchful
constable and the lurking informer. An
illustration of this existed up to about a year ago in the old chapel in
Baddow-lane, Chelmsford. A sliding panel
was to be seen in the wall at the back of the pulpit. The tradition is, that the original building
was a solitary barn, and through this loop-hole, the minister and the people
who dared to worship God in what the law called an illegal manner, had a ready
means to escape to the wood, which then skirted the rear of the building, and
extended to Galleywood Common to the river, while the soldiers employed to hunt
the fugitives were thundering the bolted door.”

Welcome

Contact Form

Blackmore Area Local History

I am a keen amateur local historian who has always lived in the CM4 postal district (Ingatestone and Blackmore).
I am currently running an interim blog for the Essex Society for Archaeology and History - see esah160.blogspot.co.uk - and have recently completed a Certificate in Local History at the University of Essex.
The purpose of this blog (which began in 2007) and partner website is simply to encourage everyone to consider, explore and learn about their local heritage and history. The Internet is a marvellous resource and enables people from around the corner and around the world to share.
Enjoy the journey of discovery.